Press. voanews.com
For
hundreds of protesters, it was cause to cheer when the Obama administration
this month declined to issue an easement for the Dakota Access pipeline's final
segment. But that elation was dampened by the uncertainty of what comes next: a
Donald Trump-led White House that might be far less attuned to issues affecting
Native Americans.
"With
Trump coming into office, you just can't celebrate," said Laundi Germaine
Keepseagle, who is 28 and from the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, where the
demonstrators have been camped out near the North Dakota-South Dakota border.
Anxiety
over the 1,200-mile pipeline illustrates a broader uncertainty over how tribes
will fare under Trump following what many in Indian Country consider a landmark
eight years.
President
Barack Obama has won accolades among Native Americans for breaking through a
gridlock of inaction on tribal issues and for putting a spotlight on their
concerns with yearly meetings with tribal leaders.
Under his
administration, lawmakers cemented a tribal health care law that includes more
preventive care and mental health resources and addresses recruiting and
retaining physicians throughout Indian Country.
The
Interior Department restored tribal homelands by placing more than 500,000
acres under tribes' control - more than any other recent administration - while
the Justice Department charted a process approved by Congress for tribes to
prosecute and sentence more cases involving non-Native Americans who assault
Native American women. Before Obama, a gap in the laws allowed for such crimes
to go unpunished.
In
addition, the federal government settled decades-old lawsuits involving Native
Americans, including class-action cases over the government's mismanagement of
royalties for oil, gas, timber and grazing leases and its discrimination
against tribal members seeking farm loans.
"In
my opinion, President Obama has been the greatest president in dealing with
Native Americans," said Brian Cladoosby, chairman of the Swinomish Tribe
north of Seattle and president of the nonpartisan National Congress of American
Indians, based in Washington, D.C. "The last eight years give us hope going
forward with the relationships we have on both sides of the aisle."
Trump,
meanwhile, rarely acknowledged Native Americans during his campaign and hasn't
publicly outlined how he would improve or manage the United States'
longstanding relationships with tribes.
His
Interior secretary pick, Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke of Montana, sponsored
legislation that he says would have given tribes more control over coal and
other fossil fuel development on their lands.
But some
of Trump's biggest campaign pledges - including repealing health care
legislation and building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border - would collide
with tribal interests.
In
Arizona, Tohono O'odham Nation leaders have vowed to oppose any plans for a
wall along the 75-mile portion of the border that runs parallel to their
reservation. And the nonprofit National Indian Health Board in Washington says
it's aiming to work with lawmakers to ensure the Indian Health Care Improvement
Act remains intact.
The law,
which guarantees funding for care through the federal Indian Health Services
agency, was embedded in Obama's health care overhaul after consultation with
tribes.
The
government's role figures prominently in Native Americans' daily lives because
treaties and other binding agreements often require the U.S. to manage tribal
health care, law enforcement and education.
Some
tribal members say they're unsure how much Trump understands or cares about
their unique relationship with the federal government.
"I
think there was a great hope that we had here in Indian Country with the direct
dialogue that President Obama had established with tribal nations," said
Duane "Chili" Yazzie, president of the Navajo Nation's Shiprock
Chapter. "If a similar effort to communicate with us were carried on by
the Trump administration, I would be surprised."
Though
most reservations lean Democratic in presidential elections, Trump does have
some supporters in Indian Country. They hope the businessman can turn around
lagging economies in rural reservations, such as the 27,000-square-mile Navajo
Nation, which covers parts of Utah, New Mexico and Arizona.
"Trump
is pro-job growth, and tribes need a healthy dose of business creation,"
said Deswood Tome, a former spokesman for the tribe from Window Rock, Arizona.
"To do that, a lot of federal barriers must be removed. We're the only
ethnic group who have so much federal control in our lives."
The
Dakota Access pipeline illustrates another chasm between Obama and Trump.
This
fall, the pipeline dispute led Obama's administration to begin tackling a final
piece of its Indian Country agenda: guidelines for how cabinet departments
should consult with tribes on major infrastructure projects.
A top
complaint from the Standing Rock Sioux was that the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers failed to properly consult with them before initially approving a
pipeline route that ran beneath Lake Oahe, the tribe's primary source of
drinking water.
After the
administration halted construction on the project in September to review the
complaint, it held seven meetings with tribal leaders and began drafting a
report on how federal officials should consult with tribes.
U.S.
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said the report will be completed before Obama
leaves office, and she expects it to have a lasting impact, even with an
incoming administration that promises to undo some of the president's policies.
What's
unclear is whether Trump, who once owned stock in the pipeline builder, will
seek to reverse the Army's decision this month to explore alternate routes.
A
spokesman said only that the president-elect plans to review the move after he
takes office. However, Trump's transition team said in a recent memo to campaign
supporters and congressional staff that he supports the pipeline's completion.
In the
meantime, Standing Rock Sioux Chairman David Archambault has begun lobbying for
a meeting with Trump to make a case for his tribe's opposition to the project,
which the chairman says threatens not just water but sacred cultural sites.
"You
have to respect Mother Earth; she's precious," Archambault said. "You
can still believe in capitalism, and you can still invest in infrastructure
projects, but these infrastructure projects should be focused toward renewable
energy rather than fossil fuel development."
.jpg)
